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Perl @ Web Programming
Programming Shed : Programmer Store & Resources |
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Perl Index - Perl Book :
Programming Perl (3rd Edition)
by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Jon Orwant Paperback: 1092 pages Dimensions (in inches): 1.75 x 9.17 x 7.01 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates ISBN: 0596000278; 3rd edition (July 2000) Perl may be best-known for its almost cultlike following among Unix gurus and authors of Web-server scripts; nonetheless, the language is suitable for utilitarian programming tasks of all kinds and on all platforms. Programming Perl provides an authoritative yet thoroughly lighthearted introduction to Perl, offering a fast-paced overview of the language and its powerful features. The book covers everything from basic control statements to regular expressions to using objects and interfacing with other languages. A Perl function reference and an extensive glossary are included, as is a valuable list of common mistakes that inexperienced programmers are likely to encounter. Many recent books about Perl skimp on the Perl language per se and treat the Perl language as a mere appendage to CGI scripting. That is an egregious error: Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language) is a fantastic language for processing text, generating reports, and managing files and processes. Written by the perlson who created Perl (Larry Wall), this book covers the essential features of the language extremely well -- even lucidly. Plus, it is filled with Larry Wall's wired sense of humor (tempered, one senses, by Randal Schwartz). If you're a beginning programmer and want to become a real Perl programmer, and not some copy-cat hack, get this book plus a more programmatic treatment, such as Learning Perl. Very Highly Recommended--but then, what less would one expect from most O'Reilly books? Larry Wall wrote Perl and he wrote Programming Perl. Better yet, he writes amusingly and well--all of which comes across in this latest edition of the definitive guide to the language. Like Topsy, Perl just grew, and as a result the need for a third edition came about. It's now over 1,000 pages, which it needs to be, as it performs several different duties. First, it's an introduction to the Perl language for those who are new to programming; also, it's a guide for those who are coming from other languages; and, finally, it's a Perl language reference. Among Larry Wall's other pursuits is being a linguist, and it's perhaps for this reason that Perl is a peculiarly flexible language with many routes to achieving the same ends, as the authors ably demonstrate. It's also extensible in several ways, designed to work with many other languages. Also, as it's largely interpreted, programs written in Perl tend to run unmodified on a variety of platforms--although platform-specific Perl modules and programming practices are also discussed. A major strength of Programming Perl is the way subject areas are approached from several directions. This constant shift of viewpoint eliminates blind spots in the reader's understanding and provides a pleasing echo of the way Perl itself can take many routes from here to there. Because the Perl community is both knowledgeable and active, the language covers much more ground here than in the previous edition. Even if you have both previous editions, you'll want this latest version--if only for the new jokes. --Steve Patient From Book News, Inc.: The inventor of the Perl programming language, along with several other knowledgeable sorts, update their authoritative introduction to Perl, first published in 1991 and updated in 1996. This heavily revised edition aims to be more accessible than its predecessor to those without a computer science background; details the newest developments in Perl; and is organized into smaller, more navigable sections. Includes an overview, detailed discussion of the guts of the language, technology that can make Perl do more, Perl programming as a human activity, and reference materials. Includes a glossary.Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR Book Description: Perl is a powerful programming language that has grown in popularity since it first appeared in 1988. The first edition of this book, Programming Perl, hit the shelves in 1990, and was quickly adopted as the undisputed bible of the language. Since then, Perl has grown with the times, and so has this book. Programming Perl is not just a book about Perl. It is also a unique introduction to the language and its culture, as you might expect only from its authors. Larry Wall is the inventor of Perl, and provides a unique perspective on the evolution of Perl and its future direction. Tom Christiansen was one of the first champions of the language, and lives and breathes the complexities of Perl internals as few other mortals do. Jon Orwant is the editor of The Perl Journal, which has brought together the Perl community as a common forum for new developments in Perl. Any Perl book can show you the syntax of Perl's functions, but only this one is a comprehensive guide to all the nooks and crannies of the language. Any Perl book can tell you about typeglobs, pseudohashes, and closures, but only this one can show you how they really work. Any Perl book can tell you that my is faster than local, but only this one can explain why. Any Perl book can have a title, but only this book is affectionately known by all Perl programmers as The Camel. This 3rd edition of Programming Perl has been expanded to cover version 5.6 of this maturing language. New topics include threading, the compiler, Unicode, and other new features that have been added since the previous edition. Ingram: An authoritative guide to programming with Perl, a UNIX utility program, explains how to use the language for manipulating text, files, and other processes, emphasizing the user-friendly nature of Perl over C or one of the UNIX shells. Original. Book Info: An introduction to the language of Perl and its culture. Provides a perspective on the evolution of Perl and its future direction. Describes features and how to use them idiomatically. Contains numerous examples. Includes chapters on profiling, pod, Unicode, threading, and Perl internals. Previous edition: c1996. DLC: Perl (Computer program language). The publisher, O'Reilly and Associates: Programming Perl, second edition, is the authoritative guide to Perl version 5, the scripting utility that has established itself as the programming tool of choice for the World Wide Web, UNIX system administration, and a vast range of other applications. Version 5 of Perl includes object-oriented programming facilities. The book is coauthored by Larry Wall, the creator of Perl. Perl is a language for easily manipulating text, files, and processes. It provides a more concise and readable way to do many jobs that were formerly accomplished (with difficulty) by programming with C or one of the shells. Perl is likely to be available wherever you choose to work. And if it isn't, you can get it and install it easily and free of charge. This heavily revised second edition of Programming Perl contains a full explanation of the features in Perl version 5.003. Contents include: An introduction to Perl Explanations of the language and its syntax Perl functions Perl library modules The use of references in Perl How to use Perl's object-oriented features Invocation options for Perl itself, and also for the utilities that come with Perl Other oddments: debugging, common mistakes, efficiency, programming style, distribution and installation of Perl, Perl poetry, and so on. Customer Reviews Reviewer: sherzodr from Mount Pleasant, MI United States The book is definetely written for those who at least have some (or maybe a little more than just "some") programming background, and willing to learn Perl from the author of the language. I read the first edition of the book, which was about 200 pages, or something in that range, which filled my mind with nothing but questions. Current edition, however, could answer to all of those questions (well, almost). Of course, to make it answer them I had to re-read the book four times. But none of the books I currently own (and I own quite a few) could've taken me to the innards of the language so deep no matter how many times I had read them. So the book is of value. The Camel book, especially, does a great job on Regular Expressions and pattern matching. If you want to learn RegEx of perl in very details, you definitely need listen to the author of Perl. "Mastering Regular Expressions" by Jeffrey Friedl is also a good choise, but doesn't include the latest updates. Formats aren't covered very well though. So you might consider "The Lama book" for that ("Learning Perl"). Still, none of the books can tell you about the innards of the Perl in so much detail overall than "Programming Perl". OOP is also toched upon in the book. Since purpose of the author is not to preach you OO lingo (but plain Perl), you'll treat that part just as an intorduction to OOP and consider "Object Oriented perl" by Damian Convey as the next text book. I found chpater 14, "Tied variables" very helpfull though. It might remind you of DBM/Berkley DB, through the syntax tie my %db, 'AnyDBM_File', 'my_file', O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 0664; but unfortunately it's not about DBM at all. It is about how the "tie" function works, and teaches you how to create your own classes for implementing with "tie". After that chapter, I even had to update some of my classes and saved lots of time for their updates. "Compiling", chapter 18 ,is a must read chapter for those who "live & breath" with Perl (like me, may be ?). I don't want you to buy the book unless you have a good understanding of Programming or/and have knowledge of some programming languages. Otherwise, it won't help at all. If your purpose is just to get started with Web applications, go for "CGI progamming 101 by Jacqueline Hamilton" . It is a good start. But if you want to go even deeper, "Learning Perl" and "Perl Coookbook" is the next choise. Keep the "The Camel" book as the next (but definitely, not the last). Reviewer: Nick Jong from Pittsburgh, PA I regard this book as the Perl equivalent of Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language. Simply put, it is the bible for the language: long, thorough, authoratative, and indulging in a fair amount of proselytizing. (The preaching becomes almost amusing when it tries to portray Perl's implementation of OOP as anything but ugly.) If nothing else, the authors' enthusiasm for the language shines through. Along with a somewhat witty writing style, it makes for good reading. I have to disagree with those warning Perl newbies away from this book. I must admit that I did read Learning Perl first, as a result of all these cautionary tales. However, I felt that I learning nothing useful from the Llama, and I didn't even write my first Perl program until I began the Camel. Reading Programming Perl was very satisfying in that it portrayed the language in a no-nonsense manner that allowed me at last to see all that Learning Perl tried so hard to hide. Certainly, I don't recommend Programming Perl to those who are programming for the first time. However, experienced C programmers and computer scientists will probably pick up Perl pretty readily from this book. If nothing else, at least try Programming Perl first. You'll certainly need it eventually, since Learning Perl is not sufficient for anything but the most surface understanding of how to use the language. (The authors at least address the reader as somebody who knows nothing about Perl.) The bottom line: if you're a programmer, you should have this book. Perl is just too useful a language not to know. Reviewer: Matt R Diehl from Pearl City, IL United States The book definitely is EVERYTHING you need to know about Perl. But that's as much of a weakness as it is a strength. Don't get me wrong, I think being comprehensive is a good thing. However, by being comprehensive, sometimes the "basics" get lost in the shuffle. Also, I believe one of the authors must have a PHD in Linguistics. They go into painstaking detail to compare the perl programming language to the english language, which takes away from learning the programming language (the intent of the book). They also use very uncommon (large) words that aren't known to the majority of the target audience which also complicates learning. Another criticism is they don't explore the windows piece of programming perl enough. I believe windows probably has 90% of the desktop OS market share so I would think they should include a little more info for that segment of the population. One last criticism is that they introduce topics without explaining them. For instance, they use code for some "sample" programs and in that code is reserved words that haven't been explained yet which makes understanding the sample code very difficult. I'm not saying it's a bad book, I'm just saying it has some areas it could definitely improve. Have I found a better book? Not yet, but I'm still looking. Reviewer: A reader from Amherst, NY United States I'd classify my self as a intermediate Perl programmer. That said, I understand the need for good books that can help Perl newbies master the real meat of Perl programming. The second edition of programming Perl had failed miserably in this regard, especially on the related topics of referencing, packages, modules and OOP. From what I've read so far in 3rd edition of Programming Perl, the authors and editors have finally made some much-needed improvements in description and examples. Other topics have been amply expanded, which is good to see; It's about time that Programming Perl has become what it has always been billed as: the Perl Bible, i.e. the book you will refer to for the rest of your natural days as a perl programmer. Until this 3rd edition, that claim was misleading hype. |
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